Fujifilm finepix F10 digiscoping samples? (1 Viewer)

I really like the quality of the Fujifilm Finepix F10 sample images. For a compact camera the noise is very low. That is great news for digiscopers who desperately need higher shutter speeds. The ability to capture fine detail is also impressive. Much sharper than my Canon A95 output!
Unfortunately, the camera offers no tilt screen, and no manual focus. I like the
manual focus with center magnification that the A95 offers (I shoot almost all my photos using manual focus).
If the Fuji F10 is good at autofocussing the scope image, it could be a fine, fast digiscoping camera. Has anyone here tried it? Maybe even some sample shots available?

1st F10 sample photo

Hi Erwin
This is a link to my 1st attempt at strapping a £9 (about $16) 8x21 'sunlit' monocular to my F10. It was very poor light conditions. Considering the optics and poor light - its not a bad attempt for a first go.

http://www.t1000.co.uk/camera/sparrow1a_8x21monocular_e.jpg

It was enought to tease me - now I want some good optics!

Just laying around, I then got a much crisper image with far more contrast when i handheld some old 8x40 Yashica binoculars to the F10. And also the shutter speed went up from 1/50 to 1/140 (it really was poor light) this was at ISO400. But I need to make a proper mount to connect them for more experimenting. Will post the results of this soon if anyone is interested!

Hi! DB, what range was the photo taken at?
thanks,
pete

Hi PP

peterpiper said:

Hi! DB, what range was the photo taken at?
thanks,
pete

Click to expand...

Hi PP, the range was about 20 feet (7 meters) and I was using about 1/3 zoom on the camera. The original image size was more than double this size (I sharnk it for the web) and a little more detail was available, but the whole thing looked very 'soft'.

Today I was trying the F10 through an old pair of 8x40 Yashica binoculars. I got some really promising photos, much, much better than shown above - but no birds would pose for me!

I will try again tomorrow and post results for comparison.

db,
can't wait
pete

2nd day trying digiscoping cheaply!

peterpiper said:

db,
can't wait
pete

Click to expand...

Hi PP

Here is a link to a couple of photos that came out reasonably well today.
Its 2 photos - both are cropped and the 1st one is resamled to half size in case you do not have a broadband connection.

http://www.t1000.co.uk/camera/dscf4282crop_se.jpg
(cropped and half size reduced - Sparrow about 20 feet away. Filesize 127Kb)

http://www.t1000.co.uk/camera/dscf4282crop.jpg
(Full size - cropped only- Sparrow about 20 feet away. Big File 867Kb)

http://www.t1000.co.uk/camera/dscf4281crop.jpg
(Full size cropped - Sparrow about 20 feet away, Filesize 364Kb)

It looks like Purple fringing is going to be the biggest problem with these cheap binoculars - but it appears only sometimes.

Your comments would be appreciated.

Adrian

Adrian,
I'm not yet into digiscoping (no scope), but those piccies would do for me, as for purple fringing, keep on cropping!!
What do the experts think? lets hope some of them post their opinions.
pete

digitalbirdy said:

Hi PP

Here is a link to a couple of photos that came out reasonably well today.
Its 2 photos - both are cropped and the 1st one is resamled to half size in case you do not have a broadband connection.

http://www.t1000.co.uk/camera/dscf4282crop_se.jpg
(cropped and half size reduced - Sparrow about 20 feet away. Filesize 127Kb)

http://www.t1000.co.uk/camera/dscf4282crop.jpg
(Full size - cropped only- Sparrow about 20 feet away. Big File 867Kb)

http://www.t1000.co.uk/camera/dscf4281crop.jpg
(Full size cropped - Sparrow about 20 feet away, Filesize 364Kb)

It looks like Purple fringing is going to be the biggest problem with these cheap binoculars - but it appears only sometimes.

Your comments would be appreciated.

Adrian

Click to expand...

Excellent,
I don't think the purple fringing should be much cause for concern... it really is a simple colour to deal with in photoshop see here.

I started out using a digital camera with a pair of binos way back, i made a rather dire shelf like contraption to hold the camera up to the binos. It may be time for some of the companies involved in digiscoping to look at providing a reasonably universal method of mounting cameras up to the bino eyepeices... there has to be a good market for it, there's far more bino owners than scope owners out there.

sorry Erwin, thread diverted a bit from the Fuji F10.

Digiscoping with the F10

1st: Thanks Andy for the Colour fringing photoshop tips.

2nd: Erwin regarding using the Fuji F10 for digiscoping. I think its well apable. My photos were limited by reall cheap binoculars and my current lack of didgiscoping/bird photographing skill (3 days experience). However I hope my last samples provide some sort of reference. I know the camera is far better than that.

I actually took a photo of the tree outside my house when it was far too dark to see anything. Yet at high ISO the F10 showed the tree in unbelievable detail - and the cirrect colour. I was stunned.

But now the BAD news. As the Fuji F10 has a telescoping zoom lense, which must not be restricted when it moves (auto shut off/zooming etc.) so it was a bit tricky to design a bracket to link it to the binoculars, that wouldn't damage the lense assembly. Someone else - possibly on here gave me the idea of how it could be done. If anyone is interested I will take and post up photos detailing the bracket and tripod mount. Its not perfect, but the Mk2 version could well be !

I do think the F10 has amazing potential and am now looking at buying a proper scope. But oh which one?
(I would only like to spend around £250 on a scope initially so am busy trying understand whts what!)

Very good results given your optics I would say! Fitting the F10 to a scope will not be easy, have to use something that connects to the tripod mount I guess. And how to add a remote shutter release?

Shutter firing on F10

Erwin Driessens said:

Very good results given your optics I would say! Fitting the F10 to a scope will not be easy, have to use something that connects to the tripod mount I guess. And how to add a remote shutter release?

Click to expand...

I have been using the 2 second timer for some shots - whuich works really well, but obvioulsy you cant capture the 'moment'.

Also heve been firing it by hand quickly and letting go. By the time its focused to take the shot the camera is steady. So you may not need a remote.

I have been designing yet another bracket - I quite enjoy it. Now I have built one, its easy to see what could improve things a little.
The current one swings to one side so I can look through the binocular. Which is good. But I built it a touch to light and its a bit 'springy' if I knock it.

It took about an hour to make with a bit of 1mm scrap metal plate.

The good thing about cbbling up a system to work with some binoculars I had in the attic. Was that it has allowed me to work out what I want from a proper scope. That is clarity and magnification wise. So hopefully I wont buy something totally unsuited for my needs

I am determined to get 'perfect' photos of the wonderful birds that visit around here somehow - so will keep you posted of progress.